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Below are some of the more frequently asked questions about Webgenz and how it compares to other development
tools and technologies. For specific questions on using Webgenz, read the user guide,
browse the tips & tricks, post a message, or
search this site.
What is the difference between using Webgenz and using Server Side Includes (SSI)?
What is the difference between using Webgenz and using Server Side Includes (SSI)? [Top]
Server Side Includes (SSI) are used to dynamically "include" blocks of HTML code into web pages
at the time the pages are requested by a browser. The web server actually processes the include
files and merges them into the HTML document. This can be a very useful technology for
specific applications, but it does not come close to providing the flexibility, usability, and
power of Webgenz.
More specifically, here are some important differences between Webgenz
and SSI:
- Webgenz supports page templates in addition to reusable HTML
code macros. SSI allows you to insert reusable code segments into HTML documents, but
it does not provide support for entire page templates as Webgenz does.
- Webgenz allows nesting of reusable blocks of HTML code. With Webgenz you can nest
reusable code to whatever depth you require. For example, if you have a reusable code
block that includes another reusable code block, you can implement this easily in Webgenz.
SSI does not support nesting.
- Webgenz allows reusable code macros to be organized into an
inheritance
hierarchy so that the reusable code can be "scoped" (i.e. global,
specific to a group of HTML documents, or specific to an individual HTML document). This
allows you to define default content macros at a more general level and
override them at the individual document level if necessary. This is particularly useful
for implementing site navigation where the selected navigation choice
changes from page to page. To implement this type of navigation you can define
site navigation in a global macro and then override a specific section of
the macro on each page to highlight the selected choice.
The idea of structuring reusable content macros into an inheritance hierarchy is based on
object-oriented programming concepts. Such concepts are not supported by SSI at all.
- Webgenz merges templates and content macros without going through a web server -- so you can easily create and view complete HTML files on your desktop
with only a web browser. With SSI, by definition, you can only view the
full page through a web server.
- Webgenz provides support for passing parameters to content macros.
This feature provides even more opportunities to reuse HTML code. SSI does not
support any parameter passing syntax.
- Webgenz provides an integrated development environment that allows point-and-click access to all of
the files that make up a web site project. With SSI there are no graphical development tools.
To learn more about Webgenz
read the user guide or download a
fully-functional version of Webgenz for evaluation now! Webgenz is
shareware.
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